A Rainy Day at Semakau

It was another rainy day at Semakau. I was guiding a media group from NEA, and barely 15 minutes after we walk onto the intertidal area, it started raining. We had to head back to shelter and waited for close to half an hour before we got started again.

Despite the rain, it was quite a good trip, and we saw a number of interesting stuff. I was busy guiding the media group, helping with some filming, and thus did not take many photos again. Here are some of the few photos that I took.


Stuck on the prop roots of the Bakau trees were many Oysters. During low tide, these Oysters will close their valves to prevent water loss. When the tide is high, they will open up to filter feed on plankton and tiny organic particles in the water.


While crossing the seagrass meadow, we spotted this Octopus, which gave us a performance of colour-changing! This allows it to blend into the surrounding to escape from predators, and also to catch its prey while camouflaged.


We saw a few Knobbly Sea Stars, including this special one with 6 arms! Most knobblies come with 5 arms. Have seen this particular individual quite a few times already.


And finally, after a few months of absence, we found this special sea star which we did not managed to identify since we first saw it in November last year. Have sent the photo to a few sea star expert, but none managed to give me a definite identification.


One of the HSBC guides found this Upside-down Jellyfish. This jellyfish has tiny symbiotic algae living in its body, which photosynthesize better with the former being upside-down under the sun.

Well, if not for the rain which unfortunately poured when the tide was at its lowest, I am sure we would be able to find even more stuff. Many animals also went into hiding as being marine animals, they do not like fresh water. Luckily, we had a group of excellent hunter-seekers who still managed to find us all these interesting organisms :)